12/19/2004 05:37:00 pm -
Reported by
Shaun Lyon

December 19, 2004 • Posted By Shaun Lyon

Noel Clarke (Mickey) is interviewed in the December 18 Daily Express 'Saturday' magazine. Whilst he mostly comments about the upcoming 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet' TV special he is in, he does mention, very briefly, his role in Doctor Who "...as Mickey, the boyfriend of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). The two have been romantically linked off-screen, but Noel bats off questions about offering Billie a shoulder to cry on after her split with husband Chris Evans, which happened during filming. "We do our job and we go home," he says. "All I do know is that Billie is great, very down to earth. She is a brilliant actress and seriously underrated. So what about the kissing scene? Who doesn't like doing kissing scenes?" he jokes. "They were fine! And my girlfriend doesn't mind me kissing Billie... she knows it's only work!" (Thanks to Peter Weaver)

The Chicago Tribune Discussed in a December 17 article the return of the series in its "Television: The Watcher" section by Maureen Ryan. "Get Your Geek On Again: I'm sure more alert sci-fi mavens have known about these development for months, but a new 'Babylon 5' feature starts filming in April, according to comingsoon.net, and filming has already begun on a new "Dr. Who" series, featuring Christopher Eccleston as the newest doctor. No U.S. channel has yet lined up the rights to air the new Who, which will hits British TV next year, according to gallifreyone.com, which is now my main source for the latest "Who" info. The original series ran from 1963 to 1989, and as most Who fans know, Tom Baker was the best Doctor, followed by Peter Davison and Jon Pertwee. Anyway, I hope the new series is better than the 1996 one-off "Dr. Who" movie that starred Paul McGann, an actor I otherwise like a lot. It wasn't his fault that the TV movie, an attempt perhaps to sex up the venerable British series, was mostly a mess (Eric Roberts as the villain? Never a good sign.). But I'm hoping the BBC raises the bar with Eccleston's outing as the good Doctor." (Our thanks to Maureen Ryan at the Chicago Tribune for the plug for Outpost Gallifrey, and Paul Engelberg for the news)

Russell T Davies was interviewed on a regional ITV1 broadcast of The Afternoon Show on December 15 for the eager TV audience of freelancers, students and the unemployed. There were some behind-the scenes clips of "Casanova" were shown, with David Tennant commenting on how great the script is, and how nice a person Russell is. Davies was then interviewed by the host Eamonn O'Neal, and talked about his work on Chucklevision and Mine All Mine, before moving on to Doctor Who, and how it mustn't be aimed simply at the audience who grew up with it. "I think that's the most important thing," Davies said, "if we were doing it for nostalgia, just to look back and make a pastiche of what was, I'd think - what was the point of that? I fell in love with that programme when I was 8 years old, and it actually made me fall in love with television full stop. And I'm still here, 'twenty' years later. It's aiming for those 8 year olds who sit there now: who want something like that. I mean, they've got American things like Buffy, but (it's important) to have something set in Britain, that's really British." Davies also said that the discussions about the use of the Daleks went all the way to the controller of BBC1, who was insistent that they were included, "Because everyone loves them." And when wrapping up, O'Neal stated that both Casanova and Doctor Who would start in March,... and Russell didn't contradict him. (Thanks to David John Parker)